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Executive Committee

Chris O'Kane

Group Chief Executive Officer

Chris O'Kane has been the group chief executive officer and a director of Aspen since he founded the company in 2002. He has over 30 years of insurance and reinsurance experience, after beginning his career as a Lloyd's of London broker.

He established Aspen as a Bermuda-domiciled insurance and reinsurance group with a team from Wellington Underwriting plc, a leading specialist insurance and reinsurance company quoted on the London Stock Exchange.

At Wellington, Chris was a director and chief underwriting officer of Wellington's principal underwriting operation, Syndicate 2020 at Lloyd's of London. During his time at Wellington, he built specialist knowledge in property insurance and reinsurance, together with underwriting capabilities in a broad range of other (re)insurance disciplines.

Under his leadership, Aspen has grown from its beginnings as a writer of UK commercial insurance, and property and casualty reinsurance to becoming a New York Stock Exchange listed company with total assets of $11 billion, offering a broad range of specialty, property and casualty insurance and reinsurance lines.

Brian Boornazian

Chairman, Aspen Re and President, Aspen Re America

Brian Boornazian was appointed the chairman of Aspen Re, Aspen's reinsurance business, in August 2012. He was previously the chief executive officer of Aspen Re from January 2010 to August 2012 and the president of Aspen Re from June 2008 until January 2010. Prior to this, he was appointed the head of reinsurance in May 2006. He joined Aspen in January 2004 as the president of Aspen Re America.

Before joining Aspen, Brian was at XL Re America, where he acted in several capacities including senior vice president, chief property officer responsible for property facultative and treaty, as well as marine, and the chief marketing officer. He began his career in 1982 at Gen Re and also held senior positions at NAC Re, Cologne Re of America and Guy Carpenter.

Michael Cain

Chief Executive Officer, Aspen Bermuda Limited, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary

Michael Cain joined Aspen as the group general counsel in March 2008 and he has also been the head of group human resources since June 2011. He was appointed chief executive officer of Aspen Bermuda Limited in September 2014 and company secretary in February 2016.

Prior to joining Aspen, Michael spent five years as the corporate counsel and company secretary/COO at Benfield Advisory. He had previously worked for law firms Barlow Lyde & Gilbert and Ashurst

David Cohen

President and Chief Underwriting Officer, Aspen Insurance

David joined Aspen Insurance in November 2015 as president and chief underwriting officer for our insurance business to develop and implement the overall strategy for the business. He works closely with our leadership team to develop the division's global underwriting strategy, establish global product leadership and define our underwriting approach.

David has over 35 years' industry experience and, before joining Aspen, was president (US) and global casualty chief underwriting officer at Liberty International Underwriters.

Lisa Gibbard

Chief of Operations

Lisa Gibbard joined Aspen in 2005, taking up the role of group head of IT in 2007. In 2014, her role expanded to include the head of Finance Shared Services and ceded reinsurance operations. Lisa was appointed to the newly created position of chief of operations in April 2015 to which she brings over 20 years of IT and operations leadership and transformation expertise.

Lisa joined us from Aon Ltd where she spent eight years delivering change and served as a member of Aon UK’s IT executive. Lisa started her career in retail banking.

Karen Green

Karen Green is the chief executive officer of Aspen UK (Aspen Insurance UK Limited and Aspen Managing Agency Limited, the managing agency of Aspen's Lloyd's Syndicate 4711). She also performs the role of office of the Group CEO and head of corporate development, Aspen Group. She joined Aspen in 2005 as head of strategy and office of the CEO, Aspen Group.

Karen had previously worked as a principal with the global private equity firm MMC Capital Inc – formerly owned by Marsh & McLennan and now Stone Point Capital. Before this, she was a director at GE Capital in London, co-running the business development team responsible for mergers and acquisitions in Europe. She started her career as an investment banker with Baring Brothers and then Schroders.

Karen serves as a non-executive director on the Council of Lloyd's of London.

Karen also chairs the development council for the Almeida Theatre Company and previously chaired the advisory council for Almeida Projects, the theatre's educational outreach program.

Emil Issavi

President and Chief Underwriting Officer, Aspen Re

Emil Issavi was appointed President of Aspen Re, Aspen's reinsurance business, in September 2014. He has been chief underwriting officer for Aspen Re since August 2012. He joined Aspen in 2006 as the head of casualty treaty at Aspen Re America, before becoming the head of casualty reinsurance in 2008.

He was previously at Swiss Re America, where he was the senior treaty account executive responsible for various global and national property casualty clients. Emil began his career at Gen Re as a casualty facultative underwriter.

Scott Kirk

Group Chief Financial Officer

Scott Kirk joined Aspen as the group financial controller in 2007 and then assumed the role of group head of finance in 2009. He became the CFO of Aspen's insurance business, Aspen Insurance, in 2011 and was appointed group chief financial officer in December 2014.

Before joining Aspen, Scott spent four years at Endurance, joining Endurance Re America in New York shortly after its formation in 2002.

Prior to that Scott was with Trenwick International in London working in finance and treasury for three years. He started his career as an auditor at KPMG, Brisbane and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in both England and Wales and Australia.

Thomas Lillelund

Thomas Lillelund was appointed chief executive officer, Aspen Re, in May 2016. He was previously managing director for Asia Pacific since 2012, having joined Aspen in 2008.

He began his career in underwriting and management in 1995 and previously worked at General Re, Swiss Re and AIG.

Thomas is originally from Denmark and has lived and worked in Latin America, North America, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia. He has a BA in economics from the College of William & Mary, an MBA from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario and is an Associate in Reinsurance (ARe).

Stephen Postlewhite

Stephen Postlewhite was appointed chief executive officer of Aspen Insurance in May 2016. He was previously Chief Executive Officer, Aspen Re, a position he held from September 2014.

Prior to this he was the group chief risk officer, a position he was appointed to in February 2013. He joined Aspen as deputy chief actuary in 2003 and became the head of risk six years later. From February 2012 until October 2012, Stephen was acting group chief risk officer.

Before joining Aspen, he spent a year at the Financial Services Authority working on the development of the Individual Capital Assessment process for non-life insurers. Stephen had previously spent nine years with KPMG in London and Sydney, working as a senior general insurance actuarial consultant – predominantly on the London market, Lloyd's and reinsurance clients. He started his career as a management consultant at Andersen Consulting and has been a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries since 2001.

Richard Thornton

Group Chief Risk Officer and Head of Strategy

Richard Thornton was appointed group chief risk officer in September 2014. He joined Aspen as group head of strategy in March 2014.

He was previously at Oliver Wyman where he had been a partner since 2007, leading the development of Oliver Wyman’s general insurance business in the UK and Europe. While focusing on the UK and Europe, his global remit provided him with the opportunity to work more internationally with large insurance players in Asia, South Africa, Australia and North America, giving him a sound global overview of the market.

Richard joined Oliver Wyman in 1999 and worked on a wide variety of projects spanning life and general insurance, ranging from retail to global corporate and from strategy to operations, risk and finance. Prior to this, Richard was an economist in the Bank of England’s monetary analysis division.

Kate Vacher

Group Director of Underwriting

Kate Vacher has been the group director of underwriting since 2007. She was previously the head of group planning for three years from 2003 to 2006. She joined Aspen as a founder underwriter in 2002, working in property reinsurance.

Kate previously worked as an underwriter with Wellington Syndicate 2020 and, before that, as an assistant underwriter at Wellington Syndicate 51. She is also an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute.